The Basis of Support for Hugo Chávez: Measuring the Determinants of Presidential Job Approval in Venezuela

Since 1999, Venezuela has experienced a dramatic transformation of its political system with the coming to power of Hugo Chávez and his movement, known in Venezuela as Chavismo. Chávez has dismantled the previous political system and established neo-populist structures that rely on his personal appeal and the close collaboration of the armed forces. Chávez has relied heavily on significant support from the poor and those who felt economically and politically excluded by the “Punto Fijo system.” President Chávez has built an impressive record of electoral victories; winning every electoral contest except one since coming to power in 1999. He continues to receive relatively high levels of support among sectors of Venezuelan society. However, there is evidence of growing discontent with high crime rates, high levels of inflation, and significant corruption in the public administration. Using data from the AmericasBarometer surveys conducted in 2007, 2008 and 2010, this paper seeks to examine the basis of Chávez’s popular support. In general, the AmericasBarometer findings suggest that Venezuelans support for President Chávez is closely linked to the access to social programs and that as long as the government is able to fund these social programs or missions, particularly MERCAL and Barrio Adentro, it will possess an important tool to garner and sustain support for President Chávez. Our analysis, however, also indicates that evaluations of the national economic situation, more than crime or insecurity, are a key factor that could undermine support for the regime.

The United States Congress and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez

The Soviet Union's dissolution in December 1991 marks the end of the Cold War and the elimination of the United States' main rival for global political-economic leadership. For decades U.S. foreign policymakers had formulated policies aimed at containing the spread of Soviet communism and Moscow's interventionist policies in the Americas. They now assumed that Latin American leftist revolutionary upheavals could also be committed to history. This study explores how Congress takes an active role in U.S. foreign policymaking when dealing with revolutionary changes in Latin America. This study finds that despite Chavez's vitriolic statements and U.S. economic vulnerability due to its dependence on foreign oil sources, Congress today sees Chavez as a nuisance and not a threat to U.S. vital interests. Devoid of an extra-hemispheric, anti-American patron intent on challenging the United States for regional leadership, Chavez is seen by Congress largely as a threat to the stability of Venezuela's institutions and political-economic stability. Today both the U.S. executive and the legislative branches largely see Bolivarianism a distraction and not an existential threat. The research is based on an examination of Bolivarian Venezuela compared to revolutionary upheaval and governance in Nicaragua over the course of the twentieth century. This project is largely descriptive, qualitative in approach, but quantitative data are used when appropriate. To analyze both the U.S. executive and legislative branches' reaction to revolutionary change, Cole Blasier's theoretical propositions as developed in the Hovering Giant: U.S. Responses to Revolutionary Change in Latin America 1910- 1985 are utilized. The present study highlights the fact that Blasier's propositions remain a relevant means for analyzing U.S. foreign policymaking.

The contribution of Victor Hugo to the liberation, emancipation, and changing perceptions of women in 19th century French society

The over-riding perceptions of Victor Hugo’s attitudes towards women are intensely coloured by his deep-seated Romanticism and his well-testified, stifling and over-bearing treatment of women in his personal life. As such, Hugo’s contribution to the feminist struggle of his time has been woefully overlooked in the larger scheme of his social and political activism. Through a close examination of his largely unstudied public discourse on women’s rights, this thesis situates Hugo’s feminist views firmly in the context of Enlightenment feminism and 19th century feminism, while also drawing heavily on the illuminating principles of Enlightenment feminism. In particular, this thesis examines Hugo’s support for several of the most determining issues of 19th century French feminism, including women’s right to education, equal citizenship, universal suffrage rights, and the issue of regulated prostitution. Further, by examining the way in which Hugo’s views on women’s maternal role extended far beyond the limited vision of domesticity bolstered by the ideology of ‘republican motherhood’, this thesis engages in a re-appraisal of Hugo’s literary representation of maternity which identifies the maternal as a universal quality of devotion and self-sacrifice to which all humankind must aspire for the creation of a just, egalitarian, and democratic society. Though at times inevitably constrained by his Romanticism, this thesis demonstrates the extent to which Hugo’s feminism is grounded in his wider vision of social emancipation and is underpinned by a profound empathy, compassion, and moral conscience – qualities which are just as fundamental today, as they were for Hugo when participating in the fitful, though decisive, feminist struggle in 19th century France.

The Wounded Me: a novel and critical essay on Hugo Simberg's oeuvre and the literary engagement with his painting The Wounded Angel

No abstract available.

La construcci?n de los sujetos discursivos desde la noci?n de mundo posible en 10 editoriales de dos medios de circulaci?n nacional: el tiempo y el espectador, en relaci?n a la convalecencia de Hugo Ch?vez [recurso electr?nico]

Tras el anuncio de Hugo Ch?vez, extinto Presidente venezolano, de su regreso a Cuba para someterse a un nuevo tratamiento m?dico ante la reaparici?n del c?ncer que lo aquejaba, el d?a 8 de diciembre de 2012; se gener? un estado de tensi?n e incertidumbre en Venezuela, situaci?n que capt? el inter?s de los medios y la opini?n p?blica de todo el mundo hacia el tema se?alado. Es en el marco de los momentos que vivi? el extinto Presidente venezolano es que se construy? a nivel medi?tico toda una serie de representaciones. Se realizaron m?ltiples textos de diferentes g?neros period?sticos, con diferentes niveles de profundidad, entre los que se destacan las columnas de opini?n y los editoriales. Los diferentes medios de comunicaci?n del mundo, entre los que se encuentran los colombianos como El Tiempo y El Espectador produjeron materiales noticiosos, audiovisuales, radiof?nicos y de prensa escrita bien sea impresa o virtual, encaminados a mostrar la realidad del periodo tanto de convalecencia como de la muerte del Presidente venezolano para ese momento, diciembre de 2012 a marzo de 2013. Las declaraciones de Hugo Ch?vez, al momento de su partida a Cuba y el manejo que le dieron a dicha informaci?n los diferentes medios de comunicaci?n como la prensa colombiana, son el objetivo del presente an?lisis; describir, a partir de la noci?n de mundo posible, el proceso de construcci?n de los sujetos discursivos en dos medios impresos de circulaci?n nacional, en relaci?n con la convalecencia del presidente Hugo Ch?vez Fr?as. La propuesta se enmarca en el an?lisis del discurso desde la Din?mica Enunciativa de Mart?nez y su propuesta integrativa, se basa adem?s en aportes de Charaudeau, Fairclough, entre otros y en el an?lisis de construcci?n de los sujetos discursivos desde la noci?n de mundos posibles de Umberto Eco.

Propuesta de un programa de capacitación de calidad en el servicio al cliente dirigido al personal de la unidad de salud de Mejicanos Dr. Hugo Morán Quijada.

El enfoque de la calidad se ha convertido en una nueva forma o filosofía de trabajo de las organizaciones la cual se proyecta eficientemente en las relaciones con los clientes o usuarios de los productos o servicios. Esto hace que las organizaciones realicen cambios ya sea en la presentación, diversidad de los productos, imagen corporativa y/o estructura organizacional; formulando políticas que contribuyan a proyectar una imagen favorable a la institución a través de la prestación de servicios con calidad con el fin de responder a las necesidades y expectativas de los usuarios, ya que ellos son la razón de ser de las mismas. En tal sentido, las inversiones en capital humano son de vital importancia para las instituciones, ya que es un medio a través del cual se puede lograr un adecuado desempeño de la fuerza laboral en los puestos que ocupan. Por lo tanto, presente trabajo se creó con la propósito de detectar las necesidades de capacitación del personal de la Unidad de Salud de Mejicanos Dr. Hugo Morán Quijada, relacionados con el servicio al cliente y calidad en el servicio con el fin de proponer un programa de capacitación que sea la herramienta que contribuya al personal de la institución brindar servicios con calidad. La investigación de campo se realizó haciendo uso de fuentes primaria de información tales como la entrevista y encuesta; también de fuentes secundarias entre las cuales se encuentran libros de texto, trabajos de graduación, artículos de internet, y seminarios de capacitación. La elaboración del diagnóstico de la situación actual del personal de la Unidad de Salud se realizó mediante una entrevista realizada a 41 de los empleados que tienen un mayor contacto con el usuario. Para el diagnóstico de la situación actual de los usuarios de la Unidad de Salud; se efectúo una encuesta a los mismos, con el objeto de comparar el servicio proporcionado por personal en las diferentes unidades y servicios que brinda la institución. En éste se identificaron hallazgos relacionados con: tiempo, servicio más solicitado y atención personal, lo que permitió detectar problemas y proponer soluciones que incorporen la filosofía de la calidad en el servicio. Posteriormente se analizó la información recopilada en la investigación de campo, en la cual se encontró que existe insatisfacción en los usuarios por el desinterés y la falta de amabilidad que reciben por parte del personal, asimismo se determinó que la mayoría de los empleados no cuentan con incentivos para realizar mejor su trabajo y carecen de conocimientos básicos de servicio al cliente y calidad en el servicio; lo cual se encuentra sustentado en las deficiencias cognoscitivas identificadas casi en la totalidad de los empleados en las áreas antes citadas. Por tal razón se recomienda implementar un programa capacitación de calidad en el servicio que sirva de guía para la ejecución de las diferentes actividades del proceso de atención y contribuirá a ofrecer servicios de calidad.

As Fábulas teatrais de Valter Hugo Mãe

O texto apresenta os textos inéditos, escritos pelo romancista português Valter Hugo Mãe para o teatro. Analisa as afinidades entre a escrita romanesca e a escrita teatral de um autor que, preocupado com a História, narra pequenas histórias com personagens mergulhadas nos problemas da sociedade actual.

Thinking spatially, acting collaboratively : a GIS-based health decision support system for improving the collaborative health-planning practice

The field of collaborative health planning faces significant challenges due to the lack of effective information, systems and the absence of a framework to make informed decisions. These challenges have been magnified by the rise of the healthy cities movement, consequently, there have been more frequent calls for localised, collaborative and evidence-driven decision-making. Some studies in the past have reported that the use of decision support systems (DSS) for planning healthy cities may lead to: increase collaboration between stakeholders and the general public, improve the accuracy and quality of the decision-making processes and improve the availability of data and information for health decision-makers. These links have not yet been fully tested and only a handful of studies have evaluated the impact of DSS on stakeholders, policy-makers and health planners. This study suggests a framework for developing healthy cities and introduces an online Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based DSS for improving the collaborative health planning. It also presents preliminary findings of an ongoing case study conducted in the Logan-Beaudesert region of Queensland, Australia. These findings highlight the perceptions of decision-making prior to the implementation of the DSS intervention. Further, the findings help us to understand the potential role of the DSS to improve collaborative health planning practice.

Epithelial—mesenchymal and mesenchymal—epithelial transitions in carcinoma progression

Like a set of bookends, cellular, molecular, and genetic changes of the beginnings of life mirror those of one of the most common cause of death—metastatic cancer. Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is an important change in cell phenotype which allows the escape of epithelial cells from the structural constraints imposed by tissue architecture, and was first recognized by Elizabeth Hay in the early to mid 1980's to be a central process in early embryonic morphogenesis. Reversals of these changes, termed mesenchymal to epithelial transitions (METs), also occur and are important in tissue construction in normal development. Over the last decade, evidence has mounted for EMT as the means through which solid tissue epithelial cancers invade and metastasize. However, demonstrating this potentially rapid and transient process in vivo has proven difficult and data connecting the relevance of this process to tumor progression is still somewhat limited and controversial. Evidence for an important role of MET in the development of clinically overt metastases is starting to accumulate, and model systems have been developed. This review details recent advances in the knowledge of EMT as it occurs in breast development and carcinoma and prostate cancer progression, and highlights the role that MET plays in cancer metastasis. Finally, perspectives from a clinical and translational viewpoint are discussed